Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-03-05

The FalsehoOds OF Chndren.
Children are often accused Of falsebood
and punished for it when, IN the moral
sense Of the word, they ara not gu lty OF
it. When an infant is born into the
world It Is q mere bundle OF Jelly bags
endowed with a capacity Of sensation
The sensations it experiences are gradu-
ally observed and recorded by the memory
until the connection Of external causes
with internal sensations begins to be
apprshended and the child begins to take
account OF its relations to the world in
which It lives. 1t is inconeeivable that
such an account should be correct. If
philosophy has taught Us anything 1t Is
that what we call consciousness Is far from
Trustworthy, and science has taught us to
distrust our senses. The child has moth
ing else to trust, and yet his senses are IN
trained, while his undevelOPed reason Is
incapable Of imagining that sense I'M
pressions can be false. he observes i'm
perfectly; he reasons imperfectly: Of the
true relation OF his subjective feeling and
its external cause he has no Just cOnceP-
ton; he mistakes cause for effect and
effect for cause; it is only after long
series Of mistakes that he begins to learn
the truth; If he lives a hundred years he
never does learn it, but at best begins to
guess at it vaguely enough; and yet, at
the very outset OF his blind race through
the world, if he tells what he believes, or
thinks he believes, we who ought to know
that he cannot be right, blame him be-
cause he is wrong. We accuse him Of
falsehood when bis fault is ignorance and
inezperienoe.
Children often indulge in rOHlGneiHg,
so the mothers say, and the word Is we'll
chosen. To the newborn intellect the
line between observations OF fact and the
conceptions Of an uDrestrained imagina-
ton Is feeble and ll-deined. A child
lives in dreamland as much as IN the
world OF reality, and with only dim
perception OF the difference between the
two. Hence it not only loves all manner
OF romantic stories but it delights In
ronancer OF its own creation and revels IN
thafgift Of the imagination which it,.shar-
es withgreat poets and great artists. 1t
is hardly possible for a child to tell a
straight story. With Jut the least inten-
ton falsehoOd it mingles its knowledge
what is or has been with its fancies Of
what might have been, or ought to be;
and the outcome is a tale OF what never
was or could be. It is cruel to visit such
errors with the severity due to wilful
falsehood. A wise parent or teacher will
see IN them an opportunity for kindly
cautions or instructions; in short, for
aiming the Immatured mind to more
accurate action. No parent or teacher Is
wise who does otherwise; and any parent
or teacher who plunges the innocent
young soul into agOnies Of shame for a
sin OF deliberate lying, which has pro
baby not been committed, Is criminally
cruel. To tell child that he has been
lying and committing a great sin when
lie Is conscious Of no intention OF wrong,
is to confuse and csnfound all his ideas
OF conduct, and so to make him think
lightly Of the lying of which he is accus-
ed. The moral nature Of many child
has been ruined by Just such treatment
Children's lies, nightly called, are Of
tenest caused by fear. FalsehOod IS the
refuge Of the weak against the strong.
To play 'pOssum Is the natural impulse
Of 'pOssums Of all species, those Of the
genus homo not excepted. To the weak
ness Of childhood falsehoOdis natural de
/ fence to which it Is too often compelled
to resort by the tyranny Of those who
ought TO be its protectors. Many a habi-
tual liar has been made by fear of pun
ishment. If punishment were inflicted
only for moral delinGuencies which had
been thoroughly ascertained, it would
still be a delicate duty in the training Of
a child. But punishment is often admin
istered for faults which have not been
duly ascertained, for faults which are OF
little or no moral consequence. and even
misfOrtunes which are rather to be pitied
than blamed. If healthy boy knows
that he IL punished for mischief as severe
ly as for lying, he will think the one as
bad as the other, and he will not hesitate
to lie about the mischief He will
as ,ume towards parents and teachers all
the rights Of war. In war each party il
at liberty to deceive the other, and seeks
to deceive the other IN every possible
way. A cOnsummate strategist in wal
Is by the necessity Of the case a master
OF the art OF deceit; and boy who is Led
to regard parents or teachers as his ma
tulal enemies, is in the fair way to be-
cOms an accomplished liar.
There are schools In which the pupil.
adopt the Spartan theory Of lying in it
fullest sense, so far as their teachers anC
governors are concerned, lying to then
without scruple, and glorying In the sue
cess Of their deceit And yet in thes,
same schools, to be detected in lying to
cOmrade is to be disgraced forever.
The falsehOOds Of children seem to bt
mainly of three -falsehoods ofignor
ance, which are blameless; falsehoods o
imagination, which are venial. though
dangerous, and falsehOods Of fear, which
are morally degrading, but for which
parents and teachers may be more t
blame than the children. A high ap
probation Of truth is thing to betaugh
and cultivated. To be prefectly verac
ions is the highest Of AL virtues, because
directly or indirectly, it includes al
others. it cannot be night or Just to ex
pect or exact in the young strangers VIII,
have been but a short time on earth
perfection which Is rarely reached by tn
mature. Most parents think they d.
their whole duty when they punish false
hood. There are comparatively few VIII
, study how to foster love Of truth.
a Word 70 the Boys.
If We are to have drunkards in the ia
tUre some OF them are to come from tn